New Contact Email

adambrickley.brickyard@blogspot.com

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

MSNBC Veepstakes, and record numbers!

Round 2 of MSNBC's "Veepstakes" is up, and Gov. Palin needs some help to beat John Thune. I was considering not posting this, as Thune had a big early lead, but Gov. Palin has started closing the gap due to today's media coverage. Please log in and vote, and maybe we can win this thing after all! At the very least, we can narrow the margin.

We smashed our record for visits today, registering over 3,000 individual visitors and over 5,000 total page loads! We've also had by far our best day ever concerning the ratio of page loads to petition signatures. On days when we get over 1,000 hits, we might get ten petition signatures, twenty if we are really lucky. However, in the last two days, we have received well over 100 petition signatures out of 6,000 hits. So, not only are we reaching more people than ever, we are also increasing the percentage of our readers who actually commit to supporting Gov. Palin!

The column states "Her [Hillary Clinton's] support among women is putting pressure on both Sen. Obama and Republican Party candidate Sen. John McCain to consider a female vice-presidential running mate. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have both been mentioned as possible running mates for Sen. McCain..."

Then under the color (online) photo of Palin (no photo of Rice) there is written again: "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been mentioned as a candidate for the highest jobs in politics [sic]."

Just finished the RCP article with EVERY comment. Some of the cmments were the first time I've seen Sarah take a punch and maybe we need to play a little defence. In particular,

1-the fact that she just gave birth to the child with Downs syndrome means the child wouuld need mega attention.

The RNC would score major points by getting them 24 hr babysit service. As well they could get parental leave for the Dad to help with the other 3 kids. This would help with feminists and help soften the GOP's image. Also it is the right thing to do.

I think without this she won't be picked and she could even be a liability if she campaigns while leaving the child

2-she can be coached about her answers to foreign policy debate questions [e.g. in hypothetical situations--always listen closely to your advisors, especially the Secretary of State and Defense, and choose the course of action which best benefits the nation

RealClearPolitics lists for a second day (6/5/08) yesterday's (6/4/08) Jack Kelly column, "McCain Should Pick Sarah Palin" on its front page's left side under the heading "MCCAIN CAMPAIGN" -- and the column continues to get comments posted.

I believe the extension of this column by RCP is significant.

Also, while surfing on opposition radio, AirAmerica on XM Satelite Radio, Mon 6/2, a caller to Randi Rhodes show raised his fear and great concern, on behalf of Democrats, about McCain specifically running with Gov Palin as attracting otherwise Hillary Dem, female voters; and Randi Rhodes attempted to address this by implying that McCain doesn't like women. Randi even implied some profanity.

Even heard a caller on early morning (listening on line) to a South Florida local radio show (Steve Kane Show) praising Gov Palin and the radio host then made reference to Palin's "hot" looks, posting her photo on the radio show's web page.

A couple of practical concerns, and why denying that she's under consideration is probably necessary.

1. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell is challenging Rep. Don Young in the GOP primary in Alaska. The primary is August 26, and McCain will likely have to make a VP choice before then. A selection of Gov. Palin by McCain will necessarily complicate Parnell's race, and it's probably a major concern. I imagine Gov. Palin would not want to publicly acknowledge that she's in serious consideration for the VP spot unless there were a strong likelihood of McCain offering it to her.

2. Track Palin is in the army. While he's currently stationed stateside, even serious public consideration of Gov. Palin complicates his service - sort of a Prince Harry situation. Once again, only if McCain were likely to choose her would she or her family acknowledge that she is under consideration.

This headline "Cougar Power: Can Sarah Palin Push John McCain to the Top With VP Nod?" caught my attention. It is a great article in The National Ledger, with photo of Palin, albeit I never heard the term "cougar power" or "cougar women" and had to look it up (and when I did look it up found the article even more interesting).